Still Just A Little Boy
by Kota Magic
Summary: My first OoT fic. Link reminisces his past and the present. The rating is just to be on the safe side.


**Still Just a Little Boy**

*BANG!* 

Ouch! 

I grumble as rub the now-forming bump on my head. When will I ever learn not to sit up so quickly in this house? I never had that problem as a child; of course, back then, I was a lot shorter… 

Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes reminds me that I'm not the little Kokiri that belongs in this house. No, he left a long time ago; seven years to be exact. The person that came back was an older, weary shadow of himself… better known these days as the Hero of Time.

I guess it's not so bad being an adult… people take you more seriously and you're physically stronger. But there's one thing we all lose as adults… something that you can't get back… Nayru herself wouldn't know, even with her wisdom… 

Innocence 

We're all born with it, but, unless you're locked up in the forest all alone for the rest of your life, you can't keep it. True, when I was much younger, I neither knew nor cared about anything outside of the Kokiri Forest; I was content to live my life the same way I always had. But fate had other plans, and had me leave… 

Argh… the routine really gets tiring after a while. I get up, head out, and spend the day guarding Hyrule. There are times when I love just racing across the fields, feeling the wind in my face and Epona's mane brushing against my hands, but many a time, I have to put those things on hold… But if I run out of time, I could always return to the past, go back to the kid I used to be, and play with my childhood friends. 

But I still wouldn't have my innocence back. 

No, my body may shrink, but the memories don't go away. Do you think I liked killing monsters? Do you think I still do? Not by a long shot! Remembering the past that should be my future takes a heavy toll on a little boy's mind. One could even say that in those times, my innocence was already a thing of the immutable past. 

When people ask, "Link, with so many women fawning over you, don't you think it's time you got married?" I just laugh. There's no denying that I've caught the attention of many women during my adventures-Princess Zelda, Princess Ruto, Malon, Saria---but the truth is, I could never pick one of them over the others. They are some of my best friends, and until the question was originally brought to me, I had never even looked at a woman in that manner. 

I may be a man, but I'm still just a little boy… 

People think that traveling through time must be the greatest thing next to Gannondorf's demise. It's not; it's ripping time apart with a sword and changing so drastically that even the most adaptable person buckles down under the stress of it. 

I still remember the first time it happened. 

After trudging practically all over Hyrule to gather the Spiritual Stones, I had run to the castle just in time to watch helplessly as Princess Zelda fled with Gannondorf in pursuit. As if that hadn't been bad enough, when I pulled the Master sword free of its pedestal, who else would be so ruthless as to abuse the privilege than Gannondorf himself? To this very day, I still curse my childish carelessness. Whatever innocence I had retained until that point was gone in a heartbeat. If it had not been for me, Hyrule would not have suffered as it did. 

Then again, without me, it still would be suffering… 

I won't bask in the glory of my heroic deeds. No, I struggled and saved the world for two reasons, and the primary one wasn't destiny; it was guilt. The only thing that allows me to sleep at night is the knowledge that I helped seal away the evil I had unleashed. 

These rugged, leather gloves… they've burned into my mind the everlasting memory of my first trip through time. One moment, I had been an odd little Kokiri boy, and the next, my body and the world surrounding it had changed dramatically. My legs felt so long and clumsy, as though someone had set me on stilts. Reaching out, my hands moved further from my face… my face… my reflection in the mirror sent me reeling. What had happened to my skinny little self? When had I become this muscular adult? In an attempt to calm myself, I chuckled at how my Hylian Shield had become much easier to wield. 

*Sigh* 

I had better get up. I have important things to do today. If I'm lucky, Princess Ruto won't be around when I'm thawing out Zora's domain. It unnerves me every time that Zora Princess pesters me to marry her. Still, I can't blame her if that's is how she feels about me. I can't help it if that's the way any of the girls feel about me. Until I finally get a hold of myself and everything that's happened, I'll simply smile, carrying on and being myself. 

~~~~~~~~~

Hi Hi! This is my first Ocarina of Time fic, so please don't kill me if you don't like it. The only Zelda fics I've previously written were based on the old 80's cartoon, so this is a big change for me. 

Like it? Hate it? Please tell me!


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